ISP's announce right-wing spying program

Yep, it sounds like more of that Tea Party "small government" to me!

On July 12, the Internet industry - in cooperation with the thuggish MPAA and RIAA - plans to implement the biggest Internet spying program ever known. Internet giants like Time Warner, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have all pledged their participation.

Under this right-wing program, if your ISP thinks you've been downloading copyrighted music or movies, your ISP will install a virus on your computer that will pop up a "warning" about piracy and force you to click through it to be allowed to continue using your machine. If you're "caught" a second time, your ISP may require you to attend a class about piracy, limit your Internet access only to selected sites like Google and Facebook, or place you on a blacklist shared with other ISP's.

This is illegal on so many levels that the mind boggles to and fro. For starts, this program violates federally mandated 'Net neutrality principles. And the blacklist is nothing short of an open-and-shut case of racketeering.

Most strikingly, isn't it illegal for phone and Internet companies to spy on customers' communications? Why, yes it is. Not like it hasn't been going on for decades. I certainly knew even in my youth that phone companies were doing this. What's amazing now is that the industry admits it and expects nobody to challenge it.

And how can they even prove a customer is guilty of piracy?

I'd like to say we should pass federal and state laws against this spying program - except it's already illegal. Everybody from Eric Holder to the Attorneys General of the states to your local district attorney needs to prosecute ISP's, the RIAA, and the MPAA to the fullest extent. In a nation with over 3,000 counties, I can't imagine that not a single one would prosecute.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/15/american-isps-to-launch-massive-copyright-spying-scheme-on-july-12)